The Texas Institute for Teacher Education
TEACHER EMPLOYMENT OUTLOOK
Texas schools will hire over 40,000 new teachers this year.Â
In fact, new teachers are hired everyday across Texas. Become one today!
We offer the lowest tuition of all TEA-approved programs.
(Texas Public Education Information Resource, 2019)
TEXAS TEACHER EMPLOYMENT
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From urban and suburban school systems with large student populations to those districts serving rural communities, public school systems across Texas are faced with growing staffing challenges that have been exacerbated by both population growth and the wide-ranging disruptions of a two-year-long pandemic. The Texas Education Agency Teacher Vacancy Task Force is working to find teacher-shaped solutions to these challenges - blending a variety of perspectives and experiences from current classroom teachers and school administrators - into thoughtful policy recommendations and an innovative way forward that firmly supports the needs of our teachers.
According to national figures, public school enrollment in Texas increased by 18.8 percent between 2004 and 2014, more than six times the increase in the United States (3.1%) over the same time period (TEA. 2018). Due to tremendous growth in public school enrollment, Texas has always had a strong need for classroom educators. Research shows that 50% percent of new teachers produced by university-based teacher educator programs do not even enter the teaching profession. Of those who do, another 50% is lost due to teacher attrition within five years of beginning their careers.
Since 1990, the Texas Education Agency (TEA) has reported a statewide shortage of certified teachers (Teacher Shortage Areas Nationwide Listing 1990-1991 through 2017-2018. U.S. Department of Education Office of Postsecondary Education. 2017).
In Texas, more than 10 percent of classroom teachers leave the profession every year (Sullivan, K., Barkowski, E., Lindsay, J., Lazarev, V., Nguyen, T., Newman, D., & Lin, L. 2017).
Although teacher mobility costs the state of Texas up to $235 million annually, not including monies to support state-funded certification programs, the greatest impact is on student achievement, especially within schools predominately enrolling minority and economically-disadvantaged students.
The impact is greatest on students with disabilities since special education teachers leave Texas public schools at more than twice the rate of general education teachers.